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10 Treasure Coast beaches and parks have water advisories due to bacteria

Posted at 4:53 PM, Sep 22, 2017
and last updated 2017-09-22 18:27:47-04

Treasure Coast health departments want you to stay out of the water at 10 parks and beach areas where there are high levels of bacteria.

Palm Beach County just lifted their three advisories Friday morning.

Environmentalists say bacteria spikes after heavy rains like we saw with Hurricane Irma.

At Sandsprit Park, Bob Chew prepares to launch his new boat and sees an advisory sign.

"Just something we deal with," said Chew.

Sandsprit is one of the locations where health advisory signs are up. Hurricane Irma had a lot to do with the polluted runoff getting into the St. Lucie Estuary.

Mark Perry with Florida's Oceanographic Society says he's confident the advisories will continue.

"Kind of expected during these big huge events, however it's really exacerbated when we get these high discharged from all other parts of the watershed including Lake Okeechobee," said Perry.

Health officials test the water on a weekly basis.

10 parks/beaches with water advisories:

St. Lucie County:

South Beach Causeway
Jaycee Park
South Jetty Park
Frederick Douglass Park
Walton Rocks Beach
River Park Marina
Veterans Park
Westmoreland Park

Martin County:

Sandsprit Park
Stuart Causeway